5:53 pm

December 13
Holly Yeager

Center for American Progress releases donor list

The Center for American Progress released a list of its corporate donors on Friday, a move intended to boost transparency at the liberal think tank as its chairman and founder,  John Podesta, moves to a top White House job.

The list of 58 donors includes a broad sampling of corporate interests, from tech firms and automakers to health-care companies, big banks, retailers and trade associations. Northrop Grumman, the defense and aerospace giant, is a donor, as are Apple, Citigroup,  GE and Wal-Mart. Each of those listed has given the group more than $10,000 in 2013, though the Center did not disclose the amount of particular contributions.

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4:16 pm

December 13
Ed O'Keefe and Paul Kane

Budget agreement poised to advance in the Senate

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

This item has been updated.

A bipartisan budget agreement overwhelmingly approved by the House appears likely to survive any procedural challenges and ultimately pass the Senate, according to interviews with key Republican senators.

The House voted 332 to 94 on Thursday night to approve a two-year budget outline, and Senate debate is expected to begin Tuesday, with a final vote expected later next week. While the measure will need just a majority of senators to pass, it first must clear a procedural vote requiring at least 60 votes in support.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) predicted in an interview with Bloomberg television airing Friday evening that there will be sufficient support for the budget deal among the 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus and that it would "suicide if the Republicans didn't pass it."

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3:49 pm

December 13
Aaron Blake

Paul Ryan: Boehner ‘got his Irish up’ with tea party

Paul Ryan (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Paul Ryan (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) says in a new interview with NBC News that House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) decided to fight back against tea party groups because he was just so frustrated with them.

"I think John just kind of got his Irish up. He was frustrated that these groups came out in opposition to our budget agreement before we reached a budget agreement," Ryan said in a taped interview for NBC's "Meet the Press."

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2:27 pm

December 13
Aaron Blake

Key official in Christie’s bridge controversy resigns

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has replaced his top official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as questions about politics and lane closures on a key bridge continue to dog the potential 2016 presidential candidate.

Christie announced Friday that Bill Baroni, the deputy executive director of the port authority, has resigned. He has been replaced by Deborah Gramiccioni.

Baroni is the second top Port Authority official to resign in the past week.

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1:40 pm

December 13
Scott Wilson

Boehner invites Obama to deliver State of the Union on Jan. 28

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) formally invited President Obama to deliver the State of the Union address on Jan. 28.

“In the coming year, Americans expect Washington to focus on their priorities and to look for common ground in addressing the challenges facing our country,” Boehner wrote in the invitation. “In that spirit, we welcome an opportunity to hear your ideas, particularly for putting Americans back to work.”

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12:47 pm

December 13
Aaron Blake

Christie: GOP has a candidate problem, not a party problem

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), in a speech in Vermont this week, said the Republican Party's problems are about its candidates, not its party.

"There are some people running around the country right now saying that our party has a problem with its brand, that we're not relating to folks," Christie said Tuesday, according to video of a private event obtained by WPTZ-TV. "It's not our party's problem, it's our candidates' problem."

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11:47 am

December 13
Philip Rucker

Obama taps Katie Beirne Fallon to repair relations with Congress

President Obama announced Friday that he has tapped White House aide Katie Beirne Fallon,  a veteran Capitol Hill insider with deep relationships with Democratic lawmakers, to bolster his legislative affairs operation.

After a tumultuous year for Obama's congressional agenda, Fallon, a highly regarded policy and political strategist, will take over as director of legislative affairs from Miguel Rodriguez, a lawyer and former foreign policy aide who was relatively unknown among congressional leaders.

Fallon was a longtime aide to Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and served as staff director for the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center, which Schumer and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) run, until May 2013, when she joined the White House as deputy communications director.

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11:15 am

December 13
Ed O'Keefe

Senate to begin debating budget Tuesday, cancels Saturday session

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.). (Post)

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) (The Washington Post)

This item has been updated.

Breaking a political fever that has raged this week between Democrats and Republicans regarding changes in Senate procedure, Senate leaders agreed Friday to scrap a series of weekend votes and to begin debating a bipartisan budget agreement next Tuesday.

The Senate will hold one final vote Friday to confirm Heather Higginbottom to serve as a deputy secretary of state for management and then set up votes to be held Monday evening to confirm President Obama's pick to serve as an assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs and Jeh C. Johnson to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Due to procedural rules, the Senate will be open and in session Sunday if senators wish to speak, but no votes will be cast, Reid said.

Debate on the budget agreement, passed overwhelmingly in the House on Thursday night, will begin Tuesday, Reid added.

The agreement came hours after senators showed up to an almost-empty U.S. Capitol Friday morning as a peach sky crested over the U.S. Supreme Court across the street. Shortly after 7 a.m., senators voted 79 to 6 to confirm Deborah Lee James to serve as the next secretary of the Air Force. She would be the second woman to hold the position.

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